Mai
Mai, currently voiced by Mippa, is one of the central characters and co-hosts of the podcast R5 Central. Introduced late in Series 2, Mai serves as the crew's maid mascot. Character History Mai was originally created by Kyoto's Robo Garage after a year-long collaboration with Ai and Mike. The idea was to help jump-start the development of the first proper android, thus slightly accelerating the evolution of technology to ensure that the Cyber Assistants would still exist. Upon her completion, Robo Garage had sent her along as an anniversary present for the show. However, the Zodiac Corporation intervened and intercepted the shipment. (Autumn Blitz, Part 1) After Mike and Sylene managed to fend them off and reclaim the package, Mai was activated for the first time. Though initially scared at first by her new surroundings, she revealed herself to be programmed to serve as Mike's personal maid, serving him in any capacity. Soon afterward, she became a proper co-host, making her first appearance during the R5 Central Halloween episode. (Episode 47) Because the staff at Robo Garage were such fans of maid cafes at the time, Mai was programmed with a personality that was reminiscent of the anime maid stereotype; In addition to constantly slipping into Japanese, she constantly refers to Mike as "Mike-sama" or "Goshujin-sama" on a regular basis (much to Mike's initial dismay) and is very hyper and over-excited, sometimes taking things a bit too seriously. She even refers to Sylene as her sister, the two of them becoming close friends as time went on. Mai would be an instrumental part of the team during the R-Vanguard's fight with the Zodiac. In addition to helping Mike break out of Adonis Smith's pocket dimension (Autumn Blitz, Part 2), Mai would also travel back to 2007 with Mike and his future incarnation to stop the Kingdom during their attempt to alter the future. (Open Your Eyes For The Next) During the latter encounter, it was discovered that Mai had a hand in actually building herself, having to stay behind for a number of years in Japan and entrusting Robo Garage with the secret until Mike returned to bring her back with him to 2008. Following the aftermath of the Zodiac conflict, Mai slowly distanced herself from the main crew until finally deciding to stay in Kyoto permanently, focusing on her idol career. It's her departure that starts the chain of events that leads to Sylene's concurrent break from the group and Ai's shutting down. Abilities ' At first, Mai seemed like she was the weaker of the co-hosts, only able to pilot the mechs but not fully sync up like Ai or Sylene. However, a critical upgrade was revealed during an encounter where she had an inert Battle Mode. Her voice goes deeper and her outfit gains armored padding on her shoulders, arms, and legs. This mode is usually triggered when Mike is in danger or somebody tells her that they intend to do harm to him. The Battle Mode utilizes two major weapons: The first being the Tray Slicer, a modified meal tray that's part boomerang, part flying buzzsaw. This can also be used without the Battle Mode but Mai tends to only use it then in emergencies. The second being her S-Revolver, a compact particle beam gun that can decimate a target at its highest setting. This mode does have one weakness in that if something throws off her rhythm or distracts her enough that she starts to revert back to her Normal Mode, she's left wide open for attacks. '''Mecha ' To date, Mai has piloted the following mechs throughout the R5 Central story arcs: *DaiRaiGou - Autumn Blitz *RaiKaiser - Final 2 'Notes ' *'''Mai has gone through only one actress change. In Episode 47, Mai was voiced by Sachibelle but conflicts behind the scenes prevented her from being able to continue the role. From Episode 49 onward, she's been played by Mippa. *'Believe it or not, Robo Garage DOES exist!' The idea came after show creator, Mike Dent, saw their FT or Female-Type robot and used it for a basis for Ai. They were then subsequently worked into the story....though it is unknown if they actually know about it....or if they even do have the capability of building a fully functional android. Category:Hosts